The most interesting releases of the past two weeks!
Usually, metal bands playing classical music is done as a joke or a gimmick. A one-off interlude in a concert to give the singer a break. Alkaloid have the chops and the temerity to play Bach seriously on their newest live release, Bach Out of Bounds. The album contains a mixture of Bach pieces transposed for death metal band and some of Alkaloid‘s own tracks. The result is both jarring and interesting. Bach Out of Bounds was released on Season of Mist
The biggest issue with metal bands playing baroque tunes has always been the drums. The sting or wind parts can be transposed to a guitar or bass guitar without too much of an issue, but often bands will just start making stuff up to give their drummer something to do during these pieces. While Alkaloid run face first into this issue, they at least put effort into making the drumming fit with the original piece instead of just launching into blast beats for no reason. The proper Alkaloid tracks on this live album sound as you’d expect: intricate, loud, and exhilarating. A good combination, and the best attempt at this style of release that I’ve heard in a long while.
The opening to “Plow the Void,” Time to Harvest‘s first track, serve the instrumental sludge album well. The song starts off with lurid dissonant strings creating a quiet, tense setting for the rest of the band to blast through and tear apart. The song continues that contrast for some time, giving each change in dynamic or instrumentation hefty weight. The big moments on Time to Harvest aren’t bigger than the big moments on other albums, but Sacri Suoni set them up marvelously. Time to Harvest was released on Electric Valley Records.
Nocturnal Visions is Invictus‘s first full-length release since 2020 and was released on Me Saco un Ojo Records. The band waste around 40 seconds on an intro and then promptly spend the next 34 or so minutes playing inspired death metal. The Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse influence comes through strong on these tracks, and I would be shocked if none of the band members listened to Suffocation‘s Pierced from Within while writing Nocturnal Visions.
But Invictus stand tall on their own. The solos have a musicality that’s often missing from death metal, the tempo changes are put to good use, and the band puts on nothing but good performances. The vocals are especially welcome, with growls that blend into the amazing riffs and aggressive, varied blast beats seamlessly. My biggest complaint is that the bass sometimes gets lost in the mix.
Dreamcrush was released on Nuclear Blast. This is some beautiful blackgaze. It’s easy for this genre of Deafheaven lovers to get lost in a haze of emotion and forget to actually write the music, but MØL keep interest high throughout Dreamcrush with captivating, powerful melodies. Throughout the album, including the end of the opening track “DREAM,” MØL sound as if they’re ripping straight from Oceanic. At times Dreamcrush contains enough post-punk influence to feel a bit out of place, but for the most part MØL place every note where it needs to be to deliver an emotional gutpunch.
Herezjarcha was released independently. Profane Elegy are a polish black metal band who veer towards blackened thrash to give their sound some spice, and their songwriting thrives in this space. The riffs on Herezjarcha are superb. Claustrophobic upwards chromatic creeping, increasingly distorted power chords, and unhinged vocals over the top make Profane Elegy‘s newest release a pleasure to listen to.
Setting up your album to be compared to 2112 is a bold choice, but Hällas manage to succeed. Starting off with 20-plus minute prog epic, Panorama is a whirlwind of retro-prog. I’d say that Hällas draw influence from early Genesis, but there’s more meat here than imitation of someone else’s art. Panorama was released on Äventyr Records.
Hällas made their album live or die by “Above the Continuum,” so let’s start there. The synths draw you decades into the past, and some of the vocals and structural choices draw you even further back, but the song still feels fresh and alive through their heartfelt performances and uncompromising composition. Hällas don’t subvert expectations or blend genres. They simply play the music they love and let the listener take it or leave it. The vocal control throughout Panorama is astounding, with small inflections creating large shifts in mood. When the mood swells, the entire band breathes out as one to create a large effect without sounding contrived.
